Effect of Hole Exit Shaping on Film Cooling Performance for Tripod Hole Injection Over a Flat Surface

The effect of hole exit shaping on both heat transfer coefficient and film cooling effectiveness of tripod injection holes is examined experimentally on a flat plate. Previously, it has been clearly proven that tripod hole configurations provide at least 50–60% more cooling effectiveness while using 50% less coolant than standard cylindrical and shaped hole exit geometries. Temperature data is collected using infrared thermography at different operating conditions to determine the benefit of shaping the hole exits for an already proven tripod hole configuration. The test rig consists of a rectangular test section with a main stream flow at 7.9 m/s and coolant flow injected through the bottom surface through the film cooling injection holes. A unique transient IR technique has been used to determine both the adiabatic film effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient from a single test. Two different exit shaping have been considered, one with a 5° flare and layback and one with a 10° flare and layback. Results show that exit shaping improves the performance of these tripod holes compared to the cylindrical hole exits. The 10° flare and layback exit performs slightly better than the 5° flare and layback exit.